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etrayamemes2025-05-30 09:20 am
etrayamods) wrote in etrayamemes2025-05-30 09:20 am
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TDM 008
content warnings for this TDM include: gambling references, mild horror themes and suggestive content  ⏵ arrival⏴ Arrival does not happen as Aurora usually plans for it. Newcomers generally find themselves waking up within the hospital, are given a brief overview of their situation, and sent on their way. Now? They wake up immersed in a game within The Gold Saucer. But it doesn't quite feel like a game: whether it's snowy mountains, riding a chocobo as you listened to the wind quickly pass by your ears, or in the middle of a battle with a beast, it feels utterly real. It's only after the game concludes - either by winning or losing - that you find yourself back in the main game area. A bot, dressed as personnel in this lavish playground, approaches each arrival with an earpiece allowing them to communicate with those in their same situation. It also serves to inform them of their goal: collect enough gold saucer points (or GP) by playing the games to acquire a card fashioned to their own likeness from the game counter. Then, they must trade it for someone else's. Seems simple enough, right? Hopefully the cards aren't too expensive...  ⏵ the gold saucer ⏴ The Gold Saucer is an ode to the very idea of fun. It’s huge, labyrinthine, colorful, and lively. Everywhere you look, there’s something to do. At the same time, it’s also impossible to tell what time it is. There are no windows to the outside, there are no clocks. This place is beyond such a thing. There are games everywhere you look, ranging from the pseudo-gambling to sports to pixelated video games in cabinets. Yet no matter which boxing game, pinball machine, or skeeball machine you look at, the same creatures and themes arrive. Cactuars, chocobos, the fiercest Behemoth, the cuddliest Moogle… For those from the realms of Final Fantasy, this will feel natural- homey even. Everyone else will simply understand that there is a fairly strong central theme here about magic, machines, and monsters. It’s hard to tell how long you spend here, and it seems to sit outside of the very concept of time. Still, there are many restaurants, lounges, and vending machines. There are shops and costume rentals. There are even little pharmacies with headache remedies if the partying gets out of hand. And when you grow tired, there is a hotel- though it is made up like a haunted house, you can count on getting some semi-restful sleep.  ⏵ playtime ⏴ At first, stepping through to play any of these games may make participants wonder if they have been teleported somewhere else entirely. But on closer inspection, all the skies above are merely well-constructed interiors with painted ceilings. After all, it always seems to be daytime during these games. Snowboarding - Race to the bottom of the mountain, but avoid obstacles and complete as many tricks as possible! Chocobo Racing- Race on Chocobo-back around a treacherous outdoors race track which can either be taking place in a desert, a swampy forest, or upon an island beach. Work in tandem with your rented bird and against your competition by throwing hazards in their way or utilizing buffs garnered on the track. Different colored birds will yield different advantages. Yellow - Good All Rounder Red - Fast, but hard to steer Blue - Slower, but very easy to steer. Much easier to pick up items from them. Green- Resilient against traps and sabotage Colosseum Battle- Face off against the fiercest beasts around. Pair up with friends or rivals to Collaborate or Compete to do the most damage and deliver the final blow. These battles are synced to the comparative power of the one entering the competition. We wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt unnecessarily, after all. And indeed, no one will get seriously, gruesomely, or permanently injured in these battles. Those without fighting capabilities can rent weapons outfitted Materia to assist them in their trial. These will allow anyone to cast spells, though not guarantee any better wielding of weapons. There are a hundred rounds, starting with fairly simple Spriggans, ranging all the way up to blood-thirsty Behemoths to challenge even the most battle-hardened hero. Leap of Faith- Players are presented with an obstacle course that stretches a hundred feet into the air upon floating platforms and islands. Both are held aloft by magical crystals. Powers are entirely nerfed, though falling and hitting the ground is strangely painless. Those who collect the most silver and gold statuettes of cactuars placed at random throughout the course will be awarded proportionate GP; though there is a bonus for those that reach the very top first. Triple Triad- Everywhere you look, people are playing this game on little 3 by 3 boards, or any surface with enough space. You will be given a loaner deck to play with. Are you clever enough to defeat your fellows. Fashion Report- Theobold, familiar to some, stands by himself in a little booth with a dressing room and an incredibly expansive walk-in closet. He is a robot of distinguished fashion and strong opinions on those fashions. Do you dare subject yourself to his scrutiny? Come prepare in his wondrous closets to make the best outfit for the chance to win a prize. Please submit your fashion here! There are Arcade Machines and activities galore. If you can think of it, it’s probably there- Just with that Final Fantasy pastiche on it, of course.  ⏵ the beehive lounge ⏴ There are other places to eat at the Gold Saucer, but the vending machines and cafés all pale in comparison to the dinners at the Beehive. For all the rave reviews, there is a dress code at the Beehive, and this is literal. If you step inside and are not currently wearing a dress, you will be ushered into a sideroom and appropriately made over. However, this is only for those trying to go in through the normal doors. Around the side there happens to be an employee entrance, manned by a bot. He will only allow those in who seem like they intend to work— and therefore must be wearing at least one piece of the Bunnysuit Collection to trick the guard. Once you are made over or have snuck in, you are free to relax inside with drinks, dine on a fine meal, watch the dancers, or participate yourself if you feel brave enough. Why would anyone ever dance here? Well, that’s simple. It pays really well. So if you’re sick of games, or terrible at them— you can always come dance for a shift. Though, don't get any unseemly ideas about freeing yourself of your clothing, this isn't that kind of establishment!  ⏵ haunted house ⏴ When you grow too weary or drunk from a day of games, you may be directed to somewhere a little quieter to sleep. Up the elevator, and through the doors reveals a modest walk through some woods until a quaint, victorian hotel appears. It is always nighttime here, and the stars and moon twinkle above. The receptionist, a bot in a rather bedraggled-looking chocobo mascot costume checks you in and shows you to your room. You can sleep here, especially if you can tolerate the hokey haunted decorations strung up around the place. Though sometimes, late at night, there will come a vigorous thumping on the door to startle sleeping patrons awake- Only for the culprit to vanish and be impossible to locate.  ⏵ ticket counter ⏴ The prize counter is manned by a bot and has a sign posted overhead. Most prizes will be handed over inside an appropriately sized wrapped box, as the contents are a mystery.
This TDM may be treated as a mini-Mission. Time will not pass inside of it in relation to the world outside - meaning, this can be happening at any time between late May into early July! This Gold Saucer is a bit of a mix between that of FF7's and FF14's, but it also has some things that neither have as well. Any inaccuracies are entirely intentional, aimed to make this rest within a space of uncanny valley for those who are familiar. While otherwise being a bit of a chaotic fantastical funhouse for everyone else! If there is something unlisted, chances are it will exist if it is in either of the other versions of the Gold Saucer. Characters already in game are welcome to post to the TDM, too! Please mark them as current characters in your header. Threads can be kept as game canon as long as both characters get into the game! Please direct all questions to our mod queries comment! |
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Only a few hours, perhaps a day, have passed since he stood by his liege lord's side. They had been awaiting Mythos at the top of the tower as the rain fell upon them in a most harmonious rhythm. Their role in this never ending dance had almost been fulfilled. Mythos had been coming unto them, finally, and so it was there they awaited in great anticipation. Watching, waiting, wanting. Hungering. Craving.
Yearning-None of this is held now deep among the bones of His Majesty's soul. Far from the reaction Sleipnir had been expecting, he too is halted where he stands and left to devour all he can glean from the man's form.
Once his liege turns and captures him so completely within his gaze Sleipnir feels a chasm open up between them and the ground caving away. But no, maybe it did not just rear it's gaping maw, perhaps it has been there for a while, crumbling, slowly growing ever more wide awaiting the day it could consume him,
consume them both-As vast as it may be Sleipnir wills it dead and gone; there are far more important things at play within these striking eyes. Suffering. More suffering impossibly here and now; pain carved on the walls of Barnabas Tharmr's soul. More pain, more strife, and something new, something born of the same mother as confusion... What could have happened in these small hours to have wrought this upon his all, his everything?
These things claw marks upon Sleipnir's heart, yet it is when Barnabas speaks he feels a fission cut across it. He knows not the emotion that runs through his liege's voice, cannot decipher it for how raw it feels. God. It has been so long since he has heard any utterance sounding so vivid from him, despite how low and quiet it may be.
He has missed-The distance is cut betwixt them before Sleipnir could give way to the gravitational pull and run to him. Barnabas saves him, and then does one better in bringing his hand up to touch him, palm to cheek.
Sleipnir tenderly presses into the hand letting himself be cradled by his gentle firmness. That feeling spreads throughout Sleipnir's entire being leaving him feeling warmly enwrapped by everything he holds dear. His eyes had slowly closed in the motion, but now he opens them to join Barnabas' once more. ]
Always, Your Majesty.
[ He may not know what has caused this disturbance within Barnabas, but he seeks to reassure him all the same. Sleipnir joins one hand softly with Barnabas' hold upon him; all the while raising his other up to press into, and move across the planes of, the other's chest. ]
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Sure, this bond could be seen as that, yet Sleipnir was by all means immortal, loyal, and an indelible part of Barnabas. He could not be taken from him, not in any meaningful way, or...so Barnabas had once thought, till this world proved otherwise. Now, that yearning and loss wars with his conditioned apatheia. A blind spot of self-awareness surfacing that he ordinarily would not suffer if not for the oddity of his circumstance, of this loss and denial he's suffered for a year...
Sleipnir's hand on his own and the other pressing upon his chest is a balm he cannot well describe, but his eyes manage it well enough on their own. The idea of racing chocobos utterly forgotten, Barnabas allows himself this moment of soul-weary respite under the touch of his creation. Of his should-be constant companion.]
Of no fault of your own, a year has marked your absence.
[His gaze traces over the fine and beautiful features that make up Sleipnir's youthful face, like a lover reunited after an insufferable distance. Though his expression might look reserved to those unfamiliar with his measured stoicism, to Sleipnir, Barnabas may as well be downright emotional.
There is almost a hesitance in breaking their eye contact as Barnabas finally regards what is around them, the chocobos, the bots, the other potential riders... Conflict hardens his expression as duty presses to the fore of his mind, despite how his heart yearns to simply bask in this moment of blissful reunion.]
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see Barnabas smile like he used-Still, the warmth Sleipnir feels within the eyes of partner brings it's own form of comfort. It's as if the other's muscles are untensing, a wet blanket is being removed from his shoulders-- That merely touching him, slowly running his hand over his chest, could cause this kind of relief warms Sleipnir's heart one-thousand fold. Fills him with
a happiness that-That is, until Barnabas speaks once more and delivers answers to questions unasked. The look of Sleipnir's gaze shifts rapidly as he digests this information. Shock, confusion, pain, anger... many things, but never disbelief. There will never be a reason for him to doubt Barnabas Tharmr. All at once it's as if the selfsame sodden blanket looms over Sleipnir, but rather it is one of ice and fury; a glacial icicle cuts down through his spine.
Sleipnir wasn't there for him.
Unthinkable. The very reason he was born. His life's purpose. Sleipnir has never been without Barnabas, ever since conception, and so cannot fathom a life void of him. Yet a whole year went by unchecked, unnoticed? His Majesty alone without him. Yes, Sleipnir recognizes his liege spoke of the fault lying elsewhere, but it doesn't change it having happened. How has it taken Sleipnir this long to make it back to him?
He has failed.
Pain and anger roil within him, but Sleipnir keeps his body steady. Now is not the time for self-flagellation. His Majesty needs him and he too needs Barnabas. So, instead he will lean closer and keep his hold gentle; Sleipnir clings to this moment desiring only to be fully entwined with him. To look upon his face, into his eyes, and dance forever.
And for the first time, he is afraid.
This new concept, the fear of being without, burrowing into the heart despite their separation having come to an end. It runs through him disregarding the fact he witnessed naught this passage of time; no, it is made worse by absence of experience. To think his liege was in pain while he was... what? Asleep? Voided? Nothingness?
Barnabas' gaze is pulled slowly away and with it the moment breaks. Sleipnir yearns for it back, but he knows the look upon his Majesty's face. ]
...Then it may be optimum to apprise me of the situation.
[ So I may best serve you once more. ]